Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cost and Hours:
€8, free on Fri 16:00-18:00; open Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00,
closed Mon; Mannerheimintie 34, tel. 09/4050-9544 or mobile 040-128-6469,
www.nba.fi
.
The museum café, with a tranquil outdoor courtyard, has light
meals and Finnish treats such as lingonberry juice and reindeer quiche (open
until 17:00). It's just a five-minute walk from Temppeliaukio Church.
Visiting the Museum:
Following the clear English-language descriptions,
visit each of the museum's four parts, in chronological order. First, straight
ahead from the ticket desk is the
Prehistory of Finland,
where you'll learn
how Stone, Bronze, and Iron Age tribes of Finland lived. Back out in the main
entrance hall, proceed into
The Realm
(to the left from the ticket desk), which
continuesupstairsandsendsyoudirectlyinto
ALandandItsPeople.
Finally,
head back down to the ground floor for Finland in
The 20th Century,
starting
with the birth of modern Finland in 1917 and its 1918 civil war. Touchscreen
tables help tell the story of the fledgling nation, as do plenty of well-presented
artifacts (including clothing, household items, vehicles, a typical 1970s living
room, and a traditional outhouse). A 15-minute film presents archive newsreel
footage from throughout the 20th century.
▲Ateneum, The National Gallery of Finland
—This museum showcases
Finnish artists on the top floor (mid-18th to 20th century), hosts exhibits,
and has a fine international collection including works by Cézanne, Chagall,
Gauguin, and Van Gogh.
Cost and Hours:
€12, Tue and Fri 10:00-18:00, Wed-Thu 10:00-20:00,
Sat-Sun 11:00-17:00, closed Mon, near train station at Kaivokatu 2, tel. 09/
173-361,
www.ateneum.fi
.
▲Sibelius Monument
—Six hundred stainless-steel pipes called “Love of
Music”—built on solid rock, as is so much of Finland—shimmer in a park to
honor Finland's greatest composer, Jean Sibelius. It's a forest of pipe-organ
pipes in a forest of trees. The artist, Eila Hiltunen, was forced to add a bust
of the composer's face to silence critics of her otherwise abstract work. City
orientation bus tours stop here for 10 minutes—long enough. Bus #24 stops
here (30 minutes until the next bus, or catch a quick glimpse on the left from
the bus) on its way to the Seurasaari Open-Air Folk Museum. The #2 tram,
which runs more frequently, stops a few blocks away.
